The following are the reasons
why you must set rules for your children:
1.
It teaches them self control.
2. It makes their activities
coordinated and balanced.
3. It determines the kind of
Adult they will be
4. It makes them more pleasant to
people around them.
Time and again people confuse
discipline with punishment; as a result, many parents do not like to set rules and
boundaries for their children so as not to be branded ‘bad or wicked parents’.
But the fact remains that setting rules and boundaries for children cannot be
taken out from parenting and must be practiced by every parent. Naturally, children have little or no self
control and abandoning them to their faith is in fact putting their future in
jeopardy.
While I do not subscribe to
the school of thought that has the opinion that disciplining a child is child
abuse, I am of the opinion that parents should involve their kids in the
process of setting rules. This can be achieved by spelling out the rules and
boundaries and consequences for those who will break the rules and overstep the
boundaries before the offence is committed, so that no child will see the
consequent as punishment.
For example, children in
general love watching television, playing games etc, more than studying their
books. Some indulge in these things as
if their lives depend on it and you will find out that it affects their
academics. Instead of shouting on him and
he sees it as denial, involve him in making a timetable for his activities
after school and free days. Let him
choose the time to study; do house chores and time to play. Everything must be spelt out.
It is also important that when
setting rules, the age of the child must be considered. Do not set out rules that a child cannot
achieve. Stiffer rules should be for the
under aged for security purposes, and then be more flexible when they are
growing up. Every rule must be
appropriate for the child’s age, do not set rules that will make the child’s
life miserable so that you will not end up have a rebellious child.
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